Girl saying the tsunami in Japan is an answer to her prayers.

At the Intelligent Design forum, Uncommon Descent, one of the guest posters has asked William Dembski how he calculated his Complex Specified Information values which is his primary argument against evolution. This shouldn't be too hard, after all, Dembski has published numerous books and given many talks on the subject of (paraphrasing here) 'life is too complex that the probability of X occurring is 1:10^Y'.

So far, they've wasted 300 posts telling her that she is stupid for asking this question and overall just avoiding the question.

http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/on-the-calculation-of-csi/

 

I got about twenty posts into that thread you linked but the misunderstanding and avoidance did my head in, forcing me to stop reading. To be honest though, I'm not all that surprised, as Dembski's arguments are not exactly inspiring...

 

I think it's a real problem with people who take all of the bible as literal fact. Especially a great deal of the old testament. Genesis 1 is not intended to be a timeline of events but can be seen as an ancient form of Hebrew poetry. It's harder to see that in an english translation (KJV Bible) and even harder to see it in an english interpretation (NIV Bible).

http://guardianguideandstay.blogspot.com/2011/03/genesis-1-hebrew-poetry.html

It's interesting to note that the word used in Genesis 1 for create is actually the Hebrew word bara which means 'to fatten'.
Also along similar lines on day 4 when the sun, moon, and stars are "created" there is a different hebrew word which is closer in meaning to "made visible" (like he cleared clouds so they were visible). I wish I had bookmarked the article that was talking about those last night but I must have just closed everything and passed out.

Yet another interesting note is that on day 2 he separates "the waters" with a vault he calls sky (like literally puts sky in between two vast quantities of water?)..It's interesting because there is an idea floating around that early earth had a layer of ice (not sure how thick) at the edge of it's atmosphere (Like Europa's icy shell). Or almost like Titan if it's liquid water layer partially turned into an air-mass. I'm curious on your thoughts about this idea.

Edit: The more I look at these pictures the more I almost want to say that the idea doesn't sound completely freaking ridiculous, just mostly. Also related.

 

You have quite a stomach.. I couldn't get past 10 posts without wanting to puke and/or bang my head against a wall.

 

I'm not a fan of retrospective analysis and creative explanation gymnastics with the bible in order to crowbar it to fit current scientific knowledge. If there is a future paradigm shift (I'm proud of my self for getting that in there), they will promptly say "Oh look, the bible said that too....if you squint a bit..."

 

i can't believe what she is saying. what kind of god is she praying to? the god i knew will not send send people to hell because they don't believe in him. beside i'm sure there are many christen in Japan as well

 

I apologise for the "spamminess" of this post, but it's very related...

Religious or not, set aside an hour or two, put your feet up, sit back and soak up Julia Sweeney's highly entertaining monologue about her personal relationship with religion and faith

 

It wasn't attempting to crowbar the creation story into current scientific knowledge. If you take a look, it doesn't mention anything about science, evolution, or a way to fit them into the picture. It's just an analysis of Genesis 1 and pointing out that it's actually poetic.

 

You could look at it as an allegory. How else would you explain the origins of life, the universe and everything to a bunch of illiterate shepherds 2000 years ago?

 

more like 4000+ years with the addition that they were not all illiterate. Besides this, writings were scarce because everything had to be hand copied, so only a rabbi/priest would have scrolls/tablets/etc.

also... 42

 

Or you could wonder why people had to write it at all...
This is the creator of the universe we're talking about, surely he could have magicked up a few hardback copies of his own book...oooh, or a kindle edition - that would definitely be the work of god even 100 years ago. But alas, god does not work in anacronistic ways

 

yeah the old was written way before jesus by monks

went to a church where the preacher wore jeans today (was a friend of my girls church).. but the topic was geared more towards new people- he talked about jonah and then gave us a bunch of burlap sacks to put rocks in

after the opening he said.. thank you god for putting up with the stench that is us xD

I dunno I guess I'm the only one that found humor in that.. he even suggested we smell the bags to get an idea of the clothing worn.. so all the way home I was smelling the bag and getting hit by my girl for being stupid

like my dad is catholic now (back from lutheran) and he wouldn't consider that a real church- but I'm sure they view the catholics in the same light.. my sisters husband was supposedly saved by one of those blue jean wearing preachers too (yeah I don't believe it, but who knows, cause he was cheating, beating off all the time)

there was some classes on problems like porno addiction.. imagine the balls you have to have to sign up for that! you have to shake hands at the meeting

 

You have it a bit wrong, there were no monks involved in the writing of the old testament. Monks did however do a lot of the transcriptions during the middle ages.

It seems like you're misunderstanding the whole idea of the bible, it is not supposed to be some proof of God's existence or even a "how to get to heaven guidebook". It is a compilation of writings by men inspired by their experience(s) with God. People didn't have to write it, they wanted to write it. Just like if you were inspired to take a picture of something you thought was particularly amazing.

 

I would give you some rep for those, but the density of your awesomeness prevents me from doing so.

 

So we're born in to sin and destined to spend an eternity in hell unless...
We hear god's word, accept it, and get in to heaven but...
god doesn't bother to spread his word, relying instead on man to spread it for him, meaning...
Most people are condemned to spend an eternity in a lake of fire because 1. They never actually got a chance to recieve his word (memes take time to disseminate) or 2. They recieved it and didn't buy it because it was the creation of man, even by a christian's own admission?

I guess I should just try my best to feel loved when my flesh is burning for all time, because the neglectful, lazy celestial father figure didn't ,ironically, give me a snowball's chance in hell to escape this fate.

it's good to be the king!

 

Well done, I believe that religion is taught wrongly in schools. They give simple ideas about why god is all god and what you should do e.c.t
During an re test we had, we were asked to give our opinion on the existence of god. me being an atheist, I gave an atheist opinion, backed up by plenty of evidence. Everyone who gave an opinion for the existence of God, got it right. Every opinion stating something different was somehow wrong.

 

^Word.

I think there have been more than enough examples dispelling any likely hood of a cosmic jewish zombie being our invisible master & creator, KN just choose to ignore the questions he cant answer, since religion has no answer ( re: God did it, somehow ).

Rational thought & experimentation ( science ) doesn't claim to have all the answers on the other hand but cant offer realistic & believable theories & explanations, and that's the point- either God did everything, or he did nothing & thus does not exist- you cant claim to be a christian or other religious sheeple but then agree with alot of scientific theories & explanations as that would be tantamount to partially renouncing the power of the almighty.

One cannot have his cake and eat it...

Side note: recent survey in The Sun which used figures from some official organisation ( I was bored at work, so sue me ) shows that 75% of people in the UK state that they have no religion, 23% were christian or other, and 2% didn't know. The sooner religion isn't forced down young children's throats at primary school, the better.

EDIT:



My logic is undeniable...

 

Just bear in mind that back in the day of jesus the regular mortal man, high priest were corrupting the jewish religion by making them pay for baths so that they could follow the very very strict purity laws. That kind of corruption still goes on today- when you consider that a church is always asking for money that doesn't go to charity. "A false religion doesn't deserve my money and a true religion shouldn't need my money."

 

This is my point, I object to religious teaching at such a young age. It's true that when a child is young, they'll absorb and accept any info. given to them. When you put this into context with religion, it's obvious that from then on- you have a god loving child. They're now trying to make it that children are confirmed a year after they've had their communion. One again, they're trying to shove religion down a child's throat at a young age when they'll just accept it, don't know the other side of the story and then can't challenge it.

Zombie slaves- almost

 

Word, again.

If you can pray to god by kneeling at the end of your bed, what purpose is a ( albeit architecturally stunning ) church or temple, in the christian faith atleast? If the ConDem coalition are short of money they should start taxing religious institutes- especially Scientology.

I cant stop myself using expressions like 'god knows', or 'praise the Lord', even if they are somewhat taken out of context- religion is so ingrained in my psyche that it is impossible to shake off; no different to a child who listens to it's parent(s) swearing & seeing them fighting, then people wonder why that kid grows up to be a tear away or thug..